Dear Kilkenny County Council,

I strongly object to your proposal to link Waterford City to Slieverue as a corridor using Kilmurry Lane, this is a rural area and an area of natural beauty, your ridiculous plan doesn’t make sense and a typical “Do it as cheap as possible” attitude from your Council.

I built our home in 2007 and paid your Council a fee for the upkeep of the roadway, 17 years later little or nothing was done to our road only the recent chippings when the Abbey Park Road was Temporarily closed to traffic.

This proposal will cause endangerment of Public life in this quiet little lane of South Kilkenny,

The proposed plan is not workable, the provision of Speed ramps will cause noise pollution throughout day and night, the proposal of Lighting is not needed and not welcomed by our residents in the lane, Glanbia is causing Light Pollution already at night and your Council has done nothing to rectify this or enforced any actions to alter the Light pollution from this industrial plant on our doorstep.

You are opening a flood gate for Antisocial behaviour into our area and no consideration has been given to it residents and no proper communication to date, which is totally unacceptable from your Council.

I would like to also ask Kilkenny County Council publicly

Please provide me with a copy of the Planning Permission for the fully completed Ramp to the side of the Old Railway Bridge on Kilmurry Lane, to date I cannot find any Granted Planning Permission for same! If Planning Permission is not present for this, I ask your Council for immediate removal of this unauthorised part of the Southern Connectivity Link – Slieverue to Kilmurry Lane.

LIGHTING & FAUNA:

Your Proposed Plan for 42 Public Lighting Poles is going to cause Light Pollution along this route from Hartley’s Cross to the Railway Bridge on Kilmurry Lane, this is not acceptable in this day and age, If we want lights on a rural lane we would light up our own property’s

This Lighting your propose will also endanger the Bat Habitat, living on this lane;

Bats are protected by law in the Republic of Ireland under the Wildlife Act 1976 and subsequent amendments.

In addition to domestic legislation bats are also protected under the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). The Lesser Horseshoe Bat which is found in the Republic of Ireland only is listed in Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, while all bat species are listed in Annex IV of the same Directive. The EU Habitats Directive has been transposed into both Irish and Northern Irish law with the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 and the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 as amended.

Can you Council confirm if a Bat Assessment was carried and when?

SPEED SURVEY:

I publicly ask your Council Why was the Speed Survey carried out from July 4th to 16th 2024 during the summer,

Surely for a more accurate result this should have been carried out during School Calendar year.

Point to note: that Kilmurry Lane is used as a short cut to Abbey Road, the residents of Slieverue Village and surrounding hinterland use it for access to Abbey Community College and local amenities in Ross Abbey Retail Park.

Your Councils proposal is going to endanger our public life as this lane is constantly used for

Daily Agricultural activities, Tractors and associated Agri Transport use this lane to access local Agricultural lands, refuse trucks and Oil Trucks use the lane daily for dwelling provisions.

The Road Safety Authority of Ireland clearly states you must be 1.5 metres from a Cyclist or

1.0 metres of a distance from a cyclist in a 50km zone to allow for a safe passing, this is not feasible on our narrow lane particularly if there is multiple road uses at the same time and same positioning on the lane.

This is clearly not feasible in your plans for this shared use of Kilmurry Lane, This is going to endanger the road users in a Vehicle and or Bicycle, furthermore this will also have a damaging effect on the residents mental health and wellbeing of which your council has clearly not considered and this must be upheld and taken into consideration.

To conclude I totally object to your Proposal as this is not workable or feasible without causing endangerment to public life.

Yours Truly

Padraic O’Keeffe

Kilmurry

Slieverue

Co.Kilkenny

X91W4AV

Part 8 South East Greenway - Southern Connectivity Link - Slieverue to Kilmurry Lane - Submissions

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